A Treasure Like Blue Diamonds
by J. Lucy-Daisuke
Summary: Four years after the group disbanded, Fuji suddenly wants to get the group together again. But how difficult is that going to be, with everyone having moved on with their lives? And, more importantly, why now is she deciding to do it? Can she work the miracles she's claiming?
1. Life Keeps On Turning

**Happy Nine-Year Anniversary, first Lupin fanfic I did! Not quite ten, but who wants to wait THAT long? Anyway, yes… It's… Been a while. And.**

**I'm sorry.**

**I am.**

**I originally started this story in handling with a relative I was taking care of who was invalid. It was hard, and my stories were an escape from that. I got to make people happy with them. It's no coincidence that when that relative passed away in 2008, I couldn't find the inspiration to begin again. I also lost my job about this time. It was a hard time for me. But, if nothing else, people deserve some knowledge of what the gang's been up to in the past four years. So here it is, time skip and all, what happened. I can't say how much more I'll write for Lupin, but I wanted to write this. I needed to write this.**

**In the time that many of you saw me, a lot's happened. I've never quit writing, although I mainly do it in different series, now. I'm an admin on an anime forum. I graduated college, got a job, and my brother got married. But I never was far from these stories, characters, or the friends I made while doing this.**

**Now, if it's all right with you, I'd like to do this as a little bit of a reboot. It's not totally different, but it takes four years after the last chapter. All of the characters are a little bit older. That's okay, though; I am, too.**

**Thank you for staying with me, all of these years. And to those who are just reading me for the first time: thanks. Thanks so much.**

_The story, so far:_

_Fuji Lupin wasn't the first choice to carry on the Lupin name. She didn't particularly ever show interest in it. But when her twin, Ari, who was set to lead on the Lupin legacy, murders a man and suffers a mental breakdown over it, and ends up going AWOL, she takes over the name and gang. She is joined by three of the Jigen siblings: Yukiko, the sharpshooting and grumpy gunwoman of the group, Ryo, the cool and calm getaway driver, and Ally, the short-tempered, hockey-loving, hand-to-hand combat specialist, as well as three of the Ishikawa siblings: Toshiro (Goemon XIV), the tall, dual sword-wielding performer, Heiji, the laid-back tech specialist, and Odori, the overly-serious carrier of Zantetsuken._

_Ari finds his own way in the world, easing his guilt by going to work for INTERPOL. He's joined by Max Zenigata, the son of the original Inspector Zenigata and an ex-Israeli military agent. Max is angry that at ever turn he seems to be pulling closer to the life he never wanted, and that is by becoming an agent, like his father. Ari becomes Leo, a translation and interpretation expert, as well as an expert in hiding his true identity. When it finally comes to light who he really is, Max remains at his side, eventually falling for Leo in the process. Through Leo, Max learns to accept himself. The two adopt Dako, an orphan, as well as raise three other children, including the twins Faye and Jared, and Avery, the youngest, who is also totally deaf._

_Yukiko and Toshiro, after a tumultuous relationship, marry and have two children, Saiyuri, and the next in the Goemon line. Odori has a child by the distant ancestor of Miyamoto Musashi, and while this relationship does not pan out, she instead finds a fulfilling relationship with one of Fuji's half-siblings, Jordan Lupin, a Hawaiian-born boxer. Ryo, previously engaged to Ari, strikes up a friendship and then a romance with Ari's cousin, Victor Lupin, a cold but ultimately misunderstood thief. Heiji, after much goading and attempts, manages to win Fuji's heart, and manages to fill in as stepfather to her daughter, Namiko, the daughter she had with Mamoru Pycal. Ally Jigen finds love with Carmen di Cagliostro, the daughter of Clarisse of Cagliostro, and has a son with her, but just as quickly loses this, with Carmen unable to handle his thief lifestyle._

_This leads to Ally's defecting from Fuji's group, and going back to the Chinese mob organization his mother was a member of. The rest of the gang tries to find him, but without much luck. After giving up, the gang splits up in their own direction, and focus on other aspects of their lives; namely, their families. But now they're being pulled back into a lifestyle they'd thought they'd left years ago._

**Part I**

"You got it?"

"Oh, yeah."

"All of it?"

"Yeah! Let's just hurry!"

"You got it… Lupin," this was given with a cackle in the darkness as a lackey lifted up a heavy crate.

The crate was passed to a second lackey, and then to a third. He passed it off to a fourth, and this person grinned, tipped his hat, and headed out to the delivery truck.

Lupin, meanwhile, paced, moving down the line from his first lackey, to his second, passing the other museum displays along the way, but barely giving a glance to the other paintings, the displays, or the giant mammoth skeleton propped up. This stood in the center of the museum, but, large as it was, it went ignored in comparison to the treasure they'd come to collect. Spanish coins. Hundreds of them. Even if they couldn't be sold as they were, they could still be melted down and sold at a hefty price.

The banging from the closet at the back of the large room, and he chuckled.

"San Francisco's finest that can't carry anything more deadly than a flashlight," Lupin giggled, his laugh high-pitched and distorted. He stopped at the third lackey, who, like the others, was dressed in a guard's uniform. He was stout and short; a poor fit for the uniform, but the buttons, against the will of physics themselves, seemingly, managed to hold the brown shirt together.

"…You move pretty fast, don't you? And I was worried," he chuckled. This lackey frowned with confusion, but quietly accepted the pat on the shoulder.

Another crate of coins came down the line, and this third lackey took it, and began to walk in the direction of where he had met his partner. Lupin walked with him, this time, pleased at the process.

Lupin was just as surprised to see the fourth lackey as the tall man dressed in the brown guard's uniform was. He looked up from beneath the brown baseball cap, and gave a gulp, but stood his ground.

"Who in the hell are you?" Lupin immediately scrambled to grab his gun from the holster in the back. He was met with a barrel to the base of his neck. And as the portly lackey decided to make a run for it, loyalty to his boss be damned, he was met with Lupin. The true Lupin. Lupin the Fourth.

"Out of all of the disguises I've seen… You're probably the forth-best," Fuji nodded with approval to "Lupin", only then noticing the short thief's face had fallen into her chest. He didn't seem too eager to remove it. She gently pulled up the cap, met his eyes, and smiled. And the next thing he felt was a size-seven heel make contact with the area in-between his legs.

He would never be responsible for the birth of any great doctors or politicians. As he laid there, curled up in pain, Fuji sauntered over to the thief, and gave him a once-over.

"Hrm. No mask, but plastic surgery scarring. You really are dedicated! Or you're one of Daddy's weirder fans!" Fuji chirped. The faux Lupin went to run, but the gunwoman in white only buried the barrel of her gun deeper into the base of his neck. "Good try, seriously! A for effort, and I'd give you a round of applause, but I just got a manicure, and, well, why risk it, right?"

"You want to hurry up?" Yukiko snarled.

Fuji balked, and threw up her hands and huffed, "I remember when you believed in playful banter, Yuki-chan!... Let me guess… Babies keeping you up? Or Toshiro-chan?"

"The babies," Toshiro muttered exhaustedly, removing his cap briefly and brushing back his hair, then replacing it on his head once more.

"Ohoho! I see!" Fuji giggled, and looked to Lupin. She patted him on the face playfully and grinned. "Do yourself a favor, please, Mr. Imposter? Get a job as an impersonator for parties. We really don't like generic knockoffs, in the Lupin family. So we'll take our royalties, this time, but we just might have to get a restraining order, next time."

"And by restraining order, she means they won't find your body," Yukiko added.

"You're really bad at this," Fuji shook her head.

"I'm tired!" Yukiko growled. "And those other two bastards he came with are gonna get suspicious!"

A gunshot firing and ricocheting off of a bronze pot on display allowed them to know that indeed they'd gotten suspicious. Fuji gave a laugh and rushed to the escape door, while Yukiko shot back, not hitting the two overhead lamps above them. These fell in front of them, blocking their exits.

"I'm proud of you!" Toshiro shouted as Yukiko hurried out behind Fuji.

"Yeah? Why?" Yukiko hopped into the Lotus Evora's passenger seat. Toshiro followed her out, and into the back seat, finding the room with the crates sparse, at best.

"Because a few years ago you probably would've shot them dead!"

The sound of gunshots rang out in the alleyway as the fake Lupin and his two remaining cohorts shot at them, and Yukiko rolled down the window, and leaned her body out.

"I might, yet, so don't get your hopes up!" she called out, firing out her own shot.

Fuji made a hard turn out of the alley, laughing all the way. Yukiko gave a yell as she nearly slipped out of the window, and delivered a warning kick to Fuji's shoulder.

"Who's up for burgers?" Fuji exclaimed, peeling out of the parking lot.

The sirens were a distant sound in the parking lot of the restaurant. One license plate change later, the three sat there, alone in the otherwise nearly-desolate parking lot. Fuji was seated on the hood of the car, eating a burger, focused on the burger-shaped, brightly-lit sign shining down on them, a brightly-lit beacon in the darkened neighborhood. The only other cars belonged to two employees, who stared back at them through the glass, still unbelieving. Yukiko, leaned against the car and sipping a soda, peered out from beneath her fedora to them, and they immediately busied themselves with cleaning out the fryer for the night.

The only other people in the parking lot were a group of teenaged boys. They sat on the curb, occasionally looking over to the group, but focusing more of the expensive car than the people who were gathered around it.

Toshiro climbed out and pulled the collar of his robe to adjust it. He tossed the brown outfit back into the passenger seat, and picked up his bag of food.

Fuji snapped out of her meditation, and looked to the boys, "Say, none of your know how to drive stick shift, do you?"

"…Kinda…" one looked up from his milkshake, puzzled as to why he was even being called, in the first place.

Fuji held up an opened hand. She closed it once, and then opened it again, revealing the key. "How about I trade you those skateboards?"

"You… You serious?" he choked.

"As serious as her," she nodded to the deadpan Yukiko. Toshiro gave a roll of the eyes and began to unload the crates.

In the end, the samurai ate his chicken sandwich as he loaded up the bullion in the manager's car. Fuji had gone inside and bought this, along with a bag full of apple pies. These are the skateboards were loaded into the trunk, and Fuji calmly drove out of the parking lot, whistling to herself. Yukiko's look was one of contempt, and she shook her head.

"You probably spent just as much as these are worth on this heist," Yukiko finally broke the silence, her chin leaning on her hand as she watched the houses pass them.

"You'll still get your cut, Yuki-chan!"

"It feels like a waste!" Yukiko snapped.

"Not for nothin', but I kinda liked getting out again…" Toshiro admitted. "It's been a while and all…. Still wonderin' what made you decide to do somethin' after all of these years."

"….The hell are you planning, exactly?" Yukiko glanced to Fuji. Lupin's smile only grew, and she laid her foot down on the gas after pausing at a stop sign.

"…Do I want to know?" Heiji awoke and walked downstairs to several crates atop skateboards. Fuji looked up from her newspaper in the living room, and she gave an innocent smile and giggle, and returned to the newspaper. "We… We still get a newspaper?"

"This one we did~" Fuji replied cheerfully, holding up the paper to reveal the headline. Bogus Lupin III Unmasked: Lupin IV Makes Grand Reappearance. Heiji gave a groan and slapped his forehead.

"I thought you were cutting down on this stuff, Fuji…" he took a seat next to the thief on the living room couch, and Fuji curled up against him.

"I know, but it'd been a few years—"

"Yeah, after you went looking for Ally and nearly got everyone killed."

"…For what it's worth, there was a poll on one of your nerdy sites that had me listed as the third best way to die. The second best way involved me, too, but I can't say the specifics that in case of Hikari waking up."

Heiji gave a shake of the head and looked over the grainy front-page photos, "Wait… That's… Not my brother, is it?"

"…I want to answer that but I don't know how to without breaking our rule about me lying…."

"You got Toshiro involved, too?"

"Just a little! I needed someone to lift heavy things! I can't for too long! I'll get man-arms! And then I'd look wrong in all of my sleeveless dresses and then we'd have to buy me a new wardrobe all over again… And that's taxing enough to do once a month…"

"Fuji!"

"…Everyone's so cranky…. And here I thought everyone would've been happy with getting the gang back together!"

"…We decided we couldn't because it was too hard without Ally."

"Well. What if I told you I found Ally?"

"You… You what?"

"Come on!" she hopped off of the couch and bounded to the bullion. "Let's go skateboarding for a little while!"

The stage was set and the audience was packed. In the third row back were two small children, and in-between them sat their mother, looking more anxious than either of the tiny children during the kabuki performance. Relief was mild as Toshiro entered, and the tiny boy, two, giggled as his father rolled out and landed on the ground, then followed this with an exaggerated, rolling motion of the head. Even from beneath the heavy makeup, it was clearly still Toshiro. His winked to his children and Yukiko and then hopped back, and began to shout out his lines, along with the other actors. He was the hero, here. The red makeup signified this as such. This irony wasn't lost on Yukiko.

Both their son and daughter leaned forward as their father began the complex swordfight on the stage. Other actors jumped down, rose up from traps on the floor, burst out from rice-paper windows on the set, and Toshiro battled them all. He was actually slower than normal, in this fight. Maybe he was trying to do this for the benefit of his fellow actors, Yukiko thought, or maybe he just wasn't used to battling with one sword.

Toshiro, or, his character, was stabbed.

And it was at that moment when their son gave a shriek and hopped up onto his seat.

"Daddy! NO!" he wailed. Yukiko immediately paled and lifted the boy onto her lap. She nodded to her daughter, and they rushed out of the audience, and out of the theater, and into the hall.

He didn't stop wailing, not until his father rushed out of the performance, minus the wig, but still wearing the rest of his costume, otherwise. Toshiro knelt down in front of the boy, "H-Hey, I'm okay! I'm alive! We were just playing again, is all! You know that!"

"Mama said you'd die!" he sniffed. Their daughter's eyes flew open in cold shock, and Yukiko stuttered a response quickly.

"I-I meant something else!" Yukiko answered. "Not that-You both know that that ain't real, up there, he's playing. Just like when we do at home, or when Namiko's over to play…"

It took a trip to the ice cream shop for this to be fully dropped, and Yukiko couldn't help but notice the newspapers on the way to the shop. Before children, she'd taken just as much pride as Fuji in how many photos she appeared in. Now, though… The grainy photo of her was poor, at best, and she looked nearly unrecognizable without her fedora, but that was only one instance. If there was another time… If they'd gotten a clearer photo…

"You get them both to bed?" they'd finally walked back to the New York City apartment, and the two children, exhausted from the lengthy performance, as well as the trauma of seeing their father "killed" onstage, had almost immediately fallen asleep.

Yukiko laid out on the couch and nodded, while Toshiro remained in a chair with his legs crossed, back in jeans and a white shirt, his hair done back in a short ponytail. Anything to look less like Toshiro Ishikawa the thief, and more like Tommy Ishihara, the actor.

She reached back and felt around, and sighed, pulling her fedora up from the floor and placing it over her eyes, "That's better… Don't feel right, otherwise…"

"What the hell was that about me dying, now? You planning on something I should know about?"

"Please. You chased me enough, already… I'd kill you and you'd haunt me."

"Damn right. I'd move your furniture every night," Toshiro gave a wry laugh.

"….I got scared for the first time."

"What? Over that heist?"

"Yeah…. It ain't just about us."

"…You're afraid something's going to happen to us if we keep going?"

"…But I liked it, is the thing. The money's good. It's better than freelance hits. That business is bad, anyhow… It's a recession; people are killing who they want by themselves. They're doin' a crap job at it, but they're doin' it. I can't make as decent a living as I used to. We made more last night than I'd made in seven months. Seven months."

"We are who we are… We can do it with the kids."

"What? Drag them all around?"

"You liked it."

"I did, but… I didn't like the worrying about my dad. I don't want that to be our kids. I don't want them to know how to fire a magnum before they learn how to ride a bike."

"Magnum would break their shoulder, anyway…."

"Smart ass."

"…You think Fuji's gonna ask for us to get together again?"

"She's planning something…." she muttered, and tipped up the brim of her fedora and looked to her husband. "I just wish I knew what."

He sighed and reached for the remote, and turned on the television.

He promptly dropped the remote as he was greeted with the breaking news story.

"Where's my purse?"

"Hey, can someone give me a little money for lunch?"

"Avery doesn't know how to turn on the closed captions on the TV."

"Purse!"

"If I help you find it can I have the money in it?"

"What? No!"

Leo's shoulders fell, and he sheepishly, fearfully, made the decision to leave the comfort of his office and see what was going on with the four children. Scratch that, he thought as he heard the front door open—Four children and a man-child.

Avery had his head turned on the couch and was signing to him as he walked out of the first-floor room, an add-on to the French home. Dako was tearing apart the living room looking for her purse, while Faye sat on the couch, swinging her feet and humming. He didn't see Jared at first, but noting the sudden silence, he reached behind and grabbed onto his son's hand, which was dangling inches from the pocket his father kept his wallet in.

"Don't try to steal from a thief," Leo released his grip, and pulled out his wallet on his own accord, "How much do you need?"

"Fifty."

"….That's in Greek currency, right?"

"Date," Jared chuckled and shrugged. Leo groaned, reached in, and pulled out a few bills.

"Give him forty. If it's a first date she doesn't need dessert, yet," Max called out, walking over to the duo. "Only on the third date or onward."

"But what if I want it to go like a third date?" Jared smirked. Max gave a deadpan stare.

"….I dare you to make me a grandfather before forty," Max muttered.

"So that would make great-grandma Zenigata a great-great-grandma Zenigata?" Faye asked.

"Never use that many greats when talking about grandma Zenigata. She gets two greats, tops," Faye answered.

"Don't be rude," Leo huffed.

"…She refuses to acknowledge you as anything but the kids' nanny," Max sighed. "Why are you defending blood relatives I don't even like? Isn't this something we're supposed to bond over?"

"How was work?" Leo rolled his eyes and shoved his wallet back in his pocket.

"Soul-crushing!" Max replied cheerfully. "So what's for dinner?"

"It's not that bad…"

"I've been chained to a desk for three years. Three. Long. Years."

"But we have a good agency."

"That's mainly run on a computer. And your bitch sister is rich off of the fact that I'm using a computer most of the time."

"Actually that'd be your uncle who invented it."

"…God our family's messed up…" Dako grumbled, rushing into Leo's study.

"H-Hey! I've got paperwork in there!"

"You have paperwork everywhere! Here it is!"

There was the sound of wood creaking and groaning, and the bookshelf gave way. When Leo and Max looked in, they found the teenaged girl, her arms up in the air to show innocence, purse in one hand, and a collapsed shelf and downed books surrounding her.

"I… Should go…" she muttered, stepping over the shelf and wriggling past her adopted fathers.

"Good idea," Max muttered, and patted Leo on the shoulder. "…You wanted new furniture, anyhow, for here, right?"

"I… I…."

"Come on, I'll help you clean up," Max gave a sigh, and began to pick up armfuls of books.

"…Work really that bad?"

"I always thought I'd like working at something where I was the boss, and I hate it."

"Poor Zenigata-Lupin, still looking for your place in the world."

"I had it," Max sighed, and lifted another pile on the desk. Leo's eyes fell to the smaller pile of books in his arms, and he cleared his throat.

"You know what? We should go out to dinner, tonight. It's been a while! It'd be nice to not have you worrying about dinner for once, eh?"

"HEY!" Avery's voice, muffled sounding, immediately drew both of their attention. The boy didn't like to talk much, and when he did, he was able to get the interest of all of those around him. Leo and Max walked out, and found the four children surrounding the TV, and watching the breaking news story. The closed captions only cemented that it was really happening.

"…I think I need to make a phone call," Leo muttered.


	2. What If

PART II

"Yeah. Yeah, I know!" Yukiko paced the floor while her free hand wildly moved about, the other holding up her cell phone. "What's she up to? I dunno, she's your best friend!" she looked down the hallway of the apartment, and Toshiro sat on the ground, his back against the wall, muttering to his own sister. Ishikawas handled shock with all of the panache Jigens seemingly lacked, and this was evident by Yukiko's pacing a fresh groove in the wooden floor while Toshiro spoke in only just above a whisper. Saiyuri, along with her brother, watched from a cracked doorway.

"Just figure out what the heck's goin' on, Ryo!" Yukiko shouted, and hung up the phone. This was followed by a shake of the head as she looked back to the TV screen. Carmen di Cagliostro, dressed regally in blue and a matching crown, and with hands folded on her lap, attempted to remain her composure in the interview. Beside her was a much-more relaxed Fuji Lupin, hand on Carmen's shoulder, and laughing gleefully as she answered questions posed by the flustered reporter, who had come only expecting an interview over the thirtieth anniversary of Clarisse di Cagliostro's rule.

Fuji sat back and treated this as if she were at a bar with old friends. She was the only on looking this relaxed. Carmen was tense from her clenched jaw to pinched shoulders, and the interviewer was leaned forward, his once perfectly-gelled hair falling out of place, but not daring to pay notice to this. His story of the year had become his country's story of a lifetime.

"W-What are you plans for the celebration?" the reporter, a good-looking man in glasses and an expensive suit asked through a thick Italian accent. The suit was becoming wrinkled and wilted under the heavy light, and he was beginning to sweat, either from stress or from the same lights, but he paid no mind. All eyes were on the thief in the room.

"Get some spaghetti, of course!" Fuji giggled. "As well as a few other surprises, I suppose? Why not, I've been gone for such a while, might as well put on a show!"

"W-What, exactly? Can you elaborate?"

"Well, for my first surprise, I'm going to produce the missing Duke of Cagliostro and Carmen-san's MIA husband, Ally Jigen!" she exclaimed. Carmen's eyes widened in shock, and she had no words. She only began to shake, and she gripped her hands tighter. "That'll be my first surprise. After that, you'll have to guess! I'm probably going to go now and get my team together. No man's an island, you know. And no lady goes out without her entourage! That'd just be tacky!"

The camera shook as Fuji bolted from the set, and there was the sound of yelling, off-camera, as she rushed out of the room in the palace the interview was taking place in. The camera had fallen, giving a view of Carmen's shoes, and little more. The sounds were more interesting, anyhow. Quick chattering in Italian—Yukiko gulped dryly, and stood there with her hands in her pockets, making out what she could in her elementary Italian. It was all about one thing, and one thing only. Lupin the Fourth was back, and had just bolted out through a balcony exit.

Knock knock.

Odori sipped her tea, blinked, and glanced to the side, to the door. She gripped her sword, in case of more reporters. Her husband had already scared off several that morning, and she attempted to relish the otherwise quiet morning with her daughter. The three, her, Jordan, and Namiko, all attempted to avoid the topic. Instead the discussion of the day focused on mundane things, from cartoons Namiko had watched to Jordan mentioning the roof needed repairing. Anything but the news of yesterday.

Knock knock.

Her brow twitched, and Namiko pushed her coloring, giving a curious glance across to her mother.

Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock. Knock-knock.

The knocking on the wooden pillar of the traditional-style Japanese home was kept consistent, and ended with Odori rolling the door back quickly, nearly snapping it off of its tracking.

She was neither surprised nor pleased by the visitor at the front porch, "YOU!"

"Me!~" Fuji replied. Her bubbly smile fell as Odori's blade pressed against her neck. "D-Dori-chan?"

"You…" she seethed. "I've had reporters trying to talk to me all day! Do you know how hard it's been to keep them away?"

"You want me to do your makeup for an interview, Dori-chan?"

"I want you to drop dead!" Dori snapped.

"Hey, Dori, I—"Jordan stopped as he entered the main room. "….Thought I heard yelling…"

"She was just leaving," Odori answered, placing a firm hand on Fuji's shoulder, ready to push her off of the porch in one instant. Fuji chuckled and ducked out of this grip, as well as the sword's blade, and she sidestepped Odori to walk into the house. "…You're leaving incorrectly."

"Ohhh, come on! Doesn't anyone have a sense of humor, anymore?"

"That was some scheme you pulled there…" Jordan muttered, and Fuji took a seat at the low-set table. Jordan joined her, and after a reluctant pause, so did Odori. Namiko glanced at one adult, and then to another, and then to another, trying the piece together why the adults, except for her father, had gone insane.

"I brought you something!" Fuji gasped, snapping her fingers and pointing to Namiko, pulling the child out of her thoughts. Lupin leaned forward, while Odori rolled her eyes. Fuji reached from behind the little girl's ear, and although she was puzzled as she returned with an empty hand. She reached with her other hand, and came up with the same nothingness. "Ah! I know! Check underneath your seat!"

"Huh? My seat?" the six-year-old stood and picked up the large cushion, and she gasped, and lifted up the pink-haired ragdoll. Even Odori seemed bewildered by how such a large doll had gotten underneath the seat.

"Working all sorts of miracles, aren't you?" Jordan laughed, watching Namiko cling onto the large doll. "I heard something about wanting to get everyone together again?"

"Two weeks is all I need. Then I won't be a bother to anybody. And the pay's good," Fuji answered. "Could I maybe borrow Dori-chan for that long, huh? Please? Favor to a sister?"

"That's not how it works!" Odori barked, and huffed. "What's this all about? Come clean, already!"

"Well, I'm bringing Ally-chan back, for one."

"…There's never just one motive with you."

"Ah, you know me well, Dori-chan!" she giggled, and reached over to Odori. She reached behind one ear, and came up with nothing. She reached behind the other, and nothing. Then she reached down in the bandaging around Odori's chest, and pulled out a map. Namiko was too preoccupied by her doll to notice this exchange, and Fuji whistled as she unfolded the map.

"I stole some gold coins from a museum in San Francisco, a few nights ago."

"What this in it?" Jordan nodded to the map.

"No, it was to get Leo's attention. And, well, I needed to make sure I wasn't rusty! I've been busy being a trophy wife, these past few years! This is something I found a while back in an auction, behind a painting. Are either of you familiar with Henri Rousseau?"

Jordan nodded, "Yeah—French artist. Painted pictures of jungles, but never went to one."

"Except he did," Fuji grinned, and pressed down the ancient map. "A lost jungle. With a lost treasure."

Odori sat in the back seat of the rented Jaguar, refusing to sit in the passenger seat; it wasn't her place to sit there. Fuji whistled to herself as she turned down the street, the GPS on the dash leading the way through the French streets. The tall, straight rows of brick houses squished together were a world away from the thick forests and rural gravel roads of her own home.

Ryo's home was recognizable by the bright red Austin-Martin parked out front, bright and shining and looking floor model new. That, and the fact Ryo stood out there, her arms folded, a few suitcases at her side. As Fuji pulled up, Ryo turned back and waved to Victor from the door. The Lupin cousin stood there, an infant boy in his arms, and waved her off quietly. He then shifted to give a glare to Fuji.

Ryo loaded her things in the trunk and then climbed into the passenger seat. This is where she belonged.

"Where are we headed to?"

"A family reunion!" Fuji replied, shifting the gears and pulling out of the driveway.

In fact, the reunion itself was at a beach house, off the coast of St. Kitts. Fuji wasted no time dressing for the occasion in a blue bikini, white wrap, and large sunglasses, topped with a large white hat. The rest of the group stood around in the spacious, brightly-light living room, each taking the bright pink drink she poured with reservation. Yukiko, still dressed in her suit, began to knock back the drink in large swigs, feeling some release from the pain.

"Now I'm sure you've all got one question, and that's what's on the menu, tonight. Well, in your honor, we're having a barbeque!" Fuji exclaimed.

The faces remained stoic and unimpressed, including Heiji's.

"No one, huh?" she pulled off the glasses and sighed.

"You said two weeks. Either you're confident that this will be sorted out quickly, or you're already going senile," Odori snapped, shifting from foot-to-foot. The tiny samurai woman clenched her jaw at Fuji's laughter, and began to unsheathe her sword—She was quickly stopped by Heiji and Toshiro, though, who each took one of their sister's hands.

"We have a meeting to get to, and a meeting," she answered, and sprawled out on one of the large, cushy couches in the room. "In the meantime, what's wrong in getting a little relaxation in? We're all parents, now, so why not enjoy the quiet!"

"I'll bite, Fuji…What's up your sleeve?" Ryo sighed.

"She's found Ally," Odori huffed. Fuji sat up, her mouth curling into a dissatisfied frown.

"Ally?" Yukiko and Ryo both looked to Fuji, and immediately both sisters rushed to the Lupin, who remained there, attempting to break a word through the barrage of questioning.

"Tomorrow!" Fuji shouted. "We'll have Ally-chan back… By tomorrow! But for now, can everyone enjoy the food?"

Yukiko looked to Ryo, "…You hold her, I'll punch."

"…Deal."

"EH?"

"G-Guys!" Heiji yelped.

"Let's just get some food, Yuki!" Toshiro called out.

And they gathered around the tense table, Fuji at its head, on her second drink. She was the only one with the healthy-enough appetite, it seemed, to stomach the pork and several sides that had been laid out.

"So! We're going to swing by and get Ally-chan, and then we're going to find Henri Rousseau's treasure! Everyone will be richer, we'll all be happy, the end!"

"Fuji… No one found him. It's been four years," Ryo whispered.

"I know, but, well… I just haven't been quiet, in that time, you know," she giggled. "He was hard to find, but I think him know that we're on to him, we'll have a good chance of finding him. I think part of Ally-chan wants to be found."

"…What makes you so sure? He hasn't called us. Hasn't written. Nothin'," Yukiko answered skeptically. "Four years of us worrying about him, nothin' else."

"Call it an optimistic hunch," Fuji replied, and took a large bite of her bread.

On the other side of the same island, Ally Jigen sat in a small hotel, accompanied by a woman in the corner of the room. She remained there, leaning forward on the handle of the sword she carried. He remained there, seated, backwards in his chair, replaying the same footage, his eyes barely visible through his thick black hair but the chill in the previously warm room speaking volumes.

"Do you really think she's going to find you?"

Ally remained there, quietly playing the clip once more, all of his thoughts poured into the television.

"…You want to be found."

He watched Carmen's expression once again, at the moment Fuji declared she would find him…. The wash of emotions as his former boss happily proclaimed it.

Li stood and sighed, heading out of the tiny living room and into the kitchenette. "I'll put on a kettle of tea for us, Boss."

"I don't care what it takes, we need a plane there. NOW!" Max slammed down the phone and sat back in the seat of his office. He sat there, alone, staring up at the ceiling. This would've been easier with INTERPOL funding, but… They were their own company. Funds were limited. Tickets to where Fuji was last spotted cost even more than that. He was at a dead-end. Even with juggling all of the numbers he could think of, and all of the accounts he could think of, it was still a no-go.

He swiveled back and forth in his chair, stared at the ceiling, and thought back to the flight attendant he'd had a brief fling with. Was that guy even alive, still?

There was a knock on the door of the tiny office, and he stood and hurried to it, still carrying with him the small limp of being shot in the spine all of those years ago.

At first he thought it was Leo, coming by to visit him and maybe bring him lunch. But instead it was Lupin the Third, who appeared just as surprised by his own presence.

"Oh, G-d… The kids broke Leo…."

"Not this time," Lupin chuckled, and placed his hands in his pockets. "Mind if I come in?"

And Max offered Lupin a seat, as well as some of the liquor he kept in a drawer of his desk, and Lupin took both of these gratefully, and spent time nursing the drink as he studied the dusty, cluttered office.

"Leo spends a lot of time in here, huh?"

"Yeah… His place at home is just as bad…"

"You know… I won't lie, I'm sort of having fun letting you figure out why I'm here!" Lupin chuckled, his same laugh even after all of these years.

"I'm thinking one of the detectives caught someone who works for you?"

"Not at all! I want to hire you to catch Fuji!"

Max choked on the drink he'd poured himself, and pounded on his chest to force the scotch down the correct pipe.

"I'm serious!" Lupin added, leaning forward in his chair, "I want you to catch my daughter! I'm willing to fully fund it with two conditions!"

"I… What? W-Why could you possibly want that?"

"Well, my first condition is I'm going to tell you. And the second condition is you're not going to tell Ari that I'm the one behind this, or why I'm doing it," Lupin replied. The sternness, and…. Near-seriousness with which he said this had Max's attention.

Fuji whistled as she pulled on a pair of brown gloves, in addition to her normal ensemble, and pushed up her sunglasses, and looked herself over in the mirror.

"…Perfection's hard to top. But I try," Fuji reached into her suitcase and pulled out a scarf, while Ryo looked up from her book and shook her head.

"…There's something you're not saying."

"How much I missed you? But I thought waking everyone up with a fruit bouquet would do that for me!... If you're expecting more, I have to regrettably let you know that I'm a married woman, now, Ryo-san!"

"…You can hide it all you want, but I know you, Fuji."

"What time is it?"

"About nine…. Fifteen. Why?"

Fuji's eyes flashed, and she rushed to Ryo, lifting up the thick book and shutting it on her friend, "Because we need to get to the other island! There's a festival on, now! Now get going, I have to prep a few more things!"

Ryo grunted and pried the book out of the grinning Fuji's hands, and gave one more critical glare before walking out.

Fuji wandered into the bathroom, feeling an itching in her throat—This was followed, soon, by a familiar taste, and she began to cough wildly while leaning over the sink. It continued until she could feel her entire chest ache and burn, and the coughing only ceased when she was panting, gasping for air. She looked down at the blood in the sink in horror and began to rinse it out as quickly as possible.

"Fuji?" there was a knock on the door, and Heiji's voice. She checked her makeup, adjusted this, as well as her smile, and hurried out to her group.


End file.
